Garcia’s, Garfield’s Restaurants Tell Workers About Bankruptcy

Two national restaurant chains that quietly filed for bankruptcy and tried to keep the news from their 1,400 employees caught the attention of a federal court watchdog, which has growled out an order to notify them.

A representative from the U.S. Trustee’s Office instructed the owners of—drumroll, please—the Garcia’s and Garfield’s restaurant chains to notify creditors, including many employees, that the chain’s two holding companies had filed for Chapter 11 protection on the Friday before New Year’s Eve.

Both holding companies left out the names of the restaurants they operate throughout several hundred pages that were filed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oklahoma shortly after the filings on Dec. 28. A company attorney refused to identify them when asked last month.